Weather Forecast

rfjeditor@rivertowns.net

Primary tabs

Author Content

The River Falls Police Department moved into a renovated section of the Public Safety Building (old the City Hall) earlier this month. The entrance to the PD shifted from Second Street to Elm Street, with garage bays and patrol officer work stations facing the alley toward Main Street. "From a customer-service perspective, there are distinct advantages to this facility," Leque said. "One of the most noticeable is that there's ample street parking right at the door to the walk-up entrance.

Just when fewer people are getting sick from the H1N1 flu, the vaccine to treat it is now widely available. Pierce County Public Health has set up a series of community vaccination clinics through January. Mark your calendars. All clinics are walk-in, first come, first serve. There's no charge to receive the H1N1 vaccine. The only one held in River Falls is from 3:30-6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at the Meyer Middle School library. This also happens to be the Martin Luther King holiday, and there is no school that day. Among some other upcoming vaccine clinic times and locations are: 4-6 p.m.

At Monday night's regular meeting, the school board approved a $365,340 budget reduction for the next school year. What exactly will be cut from the budget will be worked out by administrators in the next few months.

The parking meters in downtown River Falls are now shut down until year's end. The meters are closed every year during the winter holidays as a way to promote local shopping. The free parking started Dec. 10 and runs through Thursday, Dec. 31, according to Police Chief Roger Leque. However, because the next day, Friday, is New Year's and since there is never any parking meter enforcement on weekends, drivers won't have to plug downtown meters again until Monday, Jan.

Two days before the opening of another fantastic outdoor Christmas display to the public, the season's first winter storm blew in. The lights, figures and props were buried and broken up. It was discouraging, said Karen Marsh, but rather than complain she got back to work fixing it back up. After some 40 hours of repairs, the Christmas display outside, front and back, at the Roman Pechacek farm on County Road FF in the town of Clifton is back in business. Everyone's invited to come, drive through and gaze. Many do so on Christmas Eve.

The local Salvation Army has just over a week to go to complete its annual Christmas fundraising drive. Chairman Ed Paulson said collections are running slightly ahead of last year's pace when a big late surge led to $38,000 being raised. This year's collection is roughly $26,500. "This is our last major effort to reach our goal," Paulson said. "I'd like to ask the folks here to give as much as they can." Look for the standing red kettles, often with volunteer bell ringers, at the entrances of ShopKo, EconoFoods and Dick's Fresh Market. For more on this story, check out the Dec.

River Falls police were sent to a home on West Johnson Street early Sunday where a naked woman was chasing her husband with a katana - often called a Samurai sword. Officers found the 30-year-old woman holed up in the basement. After some persuading and with one officer aiming a stun gun at her, she finally dropped the sword. A female Pierce County Sheriff's deputy assisted in getting the woman dressed. The suspect was described as incoherent.

In the 1990s the school district honored DeWayne Meyer's many years of distinguished service as a teacher and principal by naming the middle school after him. Last week Meyer was given plaques commemorating his nearly three decades of service to the city as chairman of the Police/Fire and Ambulance commissions. Ambulance Director Jeff Rixmann said of Meyer: "I've spent countless hours at his home going over matters from policies and procedures to personnel issues and growing our service.

Bob Larson, executive director from 1974-1998 of the Kinnic Falls Halfway House, 900 Orange St., died Wednesday after a three-week stay at the Kinnic Long Term Care Facility. He was 73 and had suffered from pulmonary fibrosis since June. Bob's wife Delores was the assistant executive director during the same period at the halfway house. Their daughter, Sunny Gerten, said the couple loved traveling to faraway places like South Africa, China and across Europe.

A UW-River Falls female student was robbed of her purse Friday night while she went to her parked car in the 1000 block of East Cascade Avenue. Her assailant held her from behind, threatening her with some kind of sharp object. This is the third armed robbery in just over a month in River Falls. After the woman gave up her purse, the man threw her against the car. She banged her head and fell. He fled to the northeast behind the veterinary clinic. Also in the past week, police: Arrested a 26-year-old Ellsworth man for burglary at Meyer Middle School last month.